Old English Oboe Reeds

The Oldest English Oboe Reeds?
An Examination of Nineteen Surviving Examples

Author(s): Geoffrey Burgess and Peter Hedrick
Source: The Galpin Society Journal, Vol. 42 (Aug., 1989), pp. 32-69
Published by: Galpin Society
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/842622 .
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GEOFFREY BURGESS AND PETER HEDRICK
The
Oldest
An
Nineteen
English
Examination
Surviving
Reeds?
Oboe
of
Examples
for original oboe reeds is fraught with confusion, red

THE search
andbecause
andclosed doors.Due to theirextreme
fragility
herrings
their usefulness has been recognized only recently, examples of early
oboe reeds are extremely rare. The paucity of original specimens has
meantthatmodem oboistshaverelied more on empiricalinvestigationin
their search for reeds for historical oboes than on copying original
specimens.While this hascertainlyyielded positive results,the extent to
which authenticityhas been compromisedremainsa moot point.'
Thispaperis anattemptto review criticallysome of the claimsmadeby
recent writers in the field of reed researchand aims to describe three
English collections of oboe reeds dating from around 1800 - to our
knowledge the oldest in the country- with sufficientaccuracyto enable
playersof historicaloboes to reconstructanauthentic'set-up'asclosely as
possible? The reeds are held in the private collection of Dr Nicholas
Shackletonin Cambridge, in the Bate Collection of Historical Instruments at the Facultyof Music in Oxford, andin the Pitt-RiversMuseum,
Oxford.
AppendixA lists all known locationsof reeds for pre-Triebertoboes?
there will be some
This bringsup to date all previous
listings. Inevitably
incorrect entries and omissions: please help if you have additional
information. Appendix B gives measurementsof several Continental
reedsfrom the eighteenthcenturywhich canbe used for comparisonwith
the English examples.
Any oboist will agreethattryingto describea reed andhypothesizeon
its performancewithout playingit is an almostimpossibletask.Reedsare
made to be played and should be judged on this - not their appearance.
But, as it is unknownwhat damagecould be done by wetting andplaying
these reeds, those in the Bate andPitt-Riverscollections arepermanently
withheld fromuse. Dr Shackleton,while in favourof allowinghis reedsto
be played,is waitinguntil testscanbe carriedout to determinesomething
of theirplayinghistory.Moreover, how muchcanbe learntfrom playing
them is open to question:time would almostcertainlyhave affectedthem
32

adversely.5The apertureof the reeds will have been affectedby the long
period of dryness: one can only speculate on their original openings.
Consequently,we have to rely upon visualexaminationand resultsfrom
facsimiles.The documentationhere is based on the criteriaestablished
for measuring bassoon reeds by Paul White,6 amended where
necessary.
DATING AND ASSOCIATION
All reeds examinedare associatedwith one or more oboes. When were
they 'associated',andby whom ? Were the reeds necessarilymade at the
same time as the oboe? Were they made and bought sometime later?
The playing characteristicsof a reed and its suitabilityfor a particular
instrument are very subjective and so establishing the acoustic
relationshipbetween the reed and staple and the instrumentis not easy.
ArthurBenade and Jiirg Schaeftlein discovered that the frequency of
reed and staple alone remainedmore or less constantwhilst playing the
fundamentalscale of an oboe. Benade concluded that 'for a conical
woodwind instrumentto work properly, the equivalentvolume of the
reed cavity added to the mechanicalvolume of its staple (or bocal or
neck) must closely match the volume of the missing part of the cone'.7
This is representedby the equation:
Frs= v/2xo
scale.
Frs= frequencyof reed and staplealonewhen playingfundamental
v = velocityof soundin air.
xo = lengthof the missingapicalcone.
This formula was tested empirically using Baroque and Viennese
oboes. Divergences in the Frsare evident where the tuning or response
of certain notes (e.g. those using cross-fingerings) is modified by
adjustingthe breathand/or embouchurepressure.The formulaassumes
that the end of the staple and narrowestpoint in the bore are precisely
coupled, but this is not always the case. The two reeds in the Bate
collection now go 13 mm into the well of the associatedMilhouse oboe,
no. 203 in the same collection, but this is far from the narrowestpoint
of the bore which is 5.1 mm in diameter,46 mm fromthe top of the oboe.
Consequently, there is a short section of narrowing taper before the
bore flares outwards which is not considered in the formula. Also,
testing the equation, we have found it best to ignore the bell of the
instrument when calculating the instrument's conicity to arrive at a
value for xo. This is still only approximatebecause the distortingeffect
of the holes and the unevennessesin the bore itself are not considered.
By relating the basic pitch of the reed with bore conicity, Benade
has taken differences between various players' embouchure and
33

breath-pressureinto account, explaining why different players may

need reeds of different length to play the same instrumentat the same
pitch. Likewise, variation in preferred staple conicity results from
differences in the technique of overblowing from player to player. On
the other hand, there are many ways of producing the same Frsby
balancing the pitch-determiningvariablesin different proportions.To
take a simple example, a reed with very wide cane and short staple may
give the same Frsas one with a longer stapleand narrowercane. The test
of a good reed is that the Frsis as close to constantover the whole range
of the instrumentas is possible. While it may help to give a rough gauge
of reed dimensionsrequiredto play the criticalnotes and octavesin tune
on a given instrument, this formula does not allow for the subtle
modifications every instrumentneeds to assurethe response of crossfingered notes and various other compromises.Thus it is not accurate
enough to verify the reed-to-oboe associations.
Although associationis not necessarilya clear-cutmethod of dating,
it is necessaryto fall back onto this and, by plotting the intersectionof
the careersof the oboe makersand the known reed makers,propose an
approximatedate for the reeds.
The work of Thomas Ling (1787-1851)8 is represented in each
collection. His are the only extantoboe reeds to have been stampedwith
the maker'sname. Little is known about his life, but he seems to have
come from a musicalfamily. His father,also Thomas(c.1750-?) is listed
in the New Music Fund of 1794 as a performeron the violin, bassoon
and oboe. He played in the Ancient Concerts and Grand Handel
Festivalsat WestminsterAbbey. Thomas II's brother, William (b. 1775)
was a composer and, from 1819 to 1830, organistat St Dunstan in the
West, London. A recently discovered manuscript in the Deutsche
Staatsbibliothek,West Berlin containsseven concerti by William Ling,
dated 1796-1800: six for oboe and orchestra,and one for oboe, bassoon
and orchestra.'0The title pages of two of these concerti indicate that
William Ling was the soloist at their first performance.1"
What experience did the reed maker, Thomas II have as an oboist?
recordsthe participationof Mr Ling (no Christianname
TheHarmonicon
given) in several concerts in London and the provinces (1823-1829)
suggestingthatthere was no confusionas to which memberof the family
the writer meant.'2Carse inferred that it was William who replaced
Griesbachin the Ancient Music Concerts, July 1823, and was praised
three years later as 'decidedly the best performeron the instrumentleft
us'.13Most references to Ling which do not specify a Christianname
probablyrefer to William: he would have been more famous through
publication of his music14and through concerto performances. The
34

account of the BirminghamMusical Festival of October 1826 in the

samejournal is the only evidence we have found which proves Thomas
Ling played the oboe in public. This lists the oboists as: 'W. Ling,
Witton, T. Ling, Knowles'.asThat William was the first oboist confirms
the suppositionthat he was more highly esteemed than his brotheras an
oboist.
Thomas Ling gained notoriety through his reed-making. His
workmanshipwas praised highly by William Bainbridge, who wrote
in his Observationson the Cause of Imperfections
in Wind Instruments,
I
have
seen
oboe
reeds
Mr
made
. ..
very good
by
Ling ... I know the
Mr
which
reeds
bear
great reputation
Ling's
among professors'.13He
is listed in Robson's London Commercial Directory as a musical reed
maker from 1835-1848, and the 1841 census gives 'Thomas Ling,
musician, 45', resident at 31 Cirencester Place.17We do not know
whether Ling tailored his reeds to the needs of his clients and their
instruments.Of course, it could be just a coincidence that Ling's reeds
have been found in associationwith three William Milhouse oboes, but
it is tempting to speculatea commercialarrangementbetween the two
makers.PerhapsLing reeds were suppliedwith each Milhouse oboe, or
perhapsMilhouse recommendedLing'sreeds to his customers.Lingalso
made bassoon reeds. He sold a couple through a Colchester music
dealer to the churchof St Ove, Fingringhoe,Essex in 1823.18His wife,
Emma (or Amirella or Anna) continued the business after his death
from 31 Cirencester Place.
From the number of records of purchases of reeds and the
professional quality, it would appear that many oboe players in the
eighteenth century dispensed with the trouble of making their own
reeds.19All the same, it is unreasonableto assume that oboists were
completely unused to making reeds and unfamiliar with simple
techniquesof adjustment.See, for example, the extra binding on reeds
nos. 12 and 13, and the lengthening to the scrape of Ling reed no. 3.
SHAPE
in
the
of
the
cane are the most visibly apparent
Changes
shape
to
have
taken
developments
place in oboe reed design. The shape is a
of
reed
highly idiosyncraticpart
making, so it is no wonder that there is
considerablevariationto be found in survivingearlyreeds. The width of
the cane along the edges from the binding to the tip affectsprimarilythe
pitch and tone of the reed but also its response,intonationand, to some
extent, aperture.The wider the reed, the flatter its pitch and darkerits
sound. As pitch rose and a brightertone came to be favoured,the width
of reeds narrowed.The Baroque reed (8.5-10 mm wide) suited to the
35

wider bores of early eighteenth-century oboes, developed into the

narrower reeds (7-8.5 mm) with lighter tone and greater ease in the
higher register for Classical and early nineteenth-centuryoboes.
This changewas not uniform throughoutEurope. Althoughit is hard
to generalize about nationalpreferences, the 'Classical'oboe was born
in Italy where narrower-boredinstrumentshad been favoured almost
since the adoption of the instrumentin that country.20Italianinfluence
spread quickly to Germany. In France, Classical instruments were
slower to catch on, and older-style lower pitched instrumentsandwider
reeds seem to have been in use for longer than elswhere. Garsault's
Notionaireou memorial
raisonni(1761) depicts a wide Frenchreed, while
the portraitof the Italianoboist, Sante Aguilar, painted only six years
later shows a much narrower reed, probably developed some time
before.2' It was from the Germans that England learnt of Classicism.
Johann ChristianFischer(1733-1800) took a Classicaloboe22with him
to Londonin 1768. The narrowbore of this instrumentand smallerreed
were new to the country. Zoffany's portrait of an English oboist
(c.1770), clearly shows an instrumentset-up like Fischer's.23
While the Englishwere still content with the early GermanClassical
oboe, makerssuch as Grundmann,Floth and Bormannin Dresden and
Sellner in Viennawere making furtherdevelopments to the instrument
by introducingextra holes for chromaticnotes controlled by additional
keys. These achievementswere soon outdone by the Tribbertdynastyin
Parisfrom the second quarterof the nineteenth century.It was then that
the oboe lost its military associationsand was 'effeminised', acquiring
agreste;
je dirai
pleinde tendresse,
(in the words of Berlioz) '... un caractere
de timidite'.24
mtme
'In England, the broad reed seems to have persisted longer than
anywhere else.'25 There, a dark, resonant tone achieved by using a
broad reed was favoured over the lighter French sound into the
nineteenth century.26An article entitled 'On the Oboe and Bassoon'
(1830, p. 192) includes an interesting
signed 'I.P.', in The Harmonicon
reeds
used
four
oboists who had recently been heard
of
by
comparison
in London. It states thatJ. C. Fischer (1733-1800) used a 'rathersmall
reed of a moderate strength';Johann FriedrichAlexander Griesbach
(d. 1824) 'made use of a very large, strong reed, almost the size of a
Bassoon, hence the fine quality of his tone'. The Frenchman,Gustave
Vogt (1781-1870) was known for playing on a 'remarkablysmall, soft
reed ...', while the younger [Grattan-]Cook (1808-89), Griesbach's
successor,used reedsbetween Vogt'sand Griesbach's.27
Despite the fact
that both were German, Fischer and Griesbach used reeds of quite
differentwidths;andwhile one would expect the younger player'sreeds
36

to be narrower,the opposite was the case. The Frenchhad developed a

preference for a lighter tone from a narrower reed.
It is possibleto get an impressionof the absolutemeasurementsof the
narrowestreeds discussedby 'I.P.' from French iconographicsources.
Reeds of width c.7 mm are depicted in Vogt's Mithodepourle hautbois
(MS, in collection of Paris Conservatoire c.1813) and Brod's Mithode
pourle hautbois(c.1826). All the reeds here are noticeably narrowerthan
the Italian and English reeds shown in the portraitsof Sante Anguilar
and by Zoffany. But, at the other end of the spectrum,how wide was
Griesbach'sreed 'almost like a Bassoon'? A picture of a reed used by
Rossini's oboist, BaldassarreCentroni, is reproducedin the article on
the oboe in the first edition of Grove's Dictionaryof MusicandMusicians
(A.D. 1450-1889).28 It is shown to scale with a contemporaryEnglish
reed. Assuming the latter was 7 mm in width, Centroni's would have
measured 16 mm !29 William H. Stone, the writer of the article, says
that this reed resembled those used by Grattan-Cook. Ling's shape
(c.8.5-9 mm) would probablyhave been consideredwide and may have
been comparablewith Griesbach'sreeds. It must be rememberedthat,
up to the first decade of the nineteenthcentury,Englishreedswere 'old
fashioned'in comparisonwith the Continent - at any rate with regard
to theirwidth. The Englishwere won over to the Frenchideal by Barret,
a champion of the Triebert system, who was active in London from
1829.
STAPLES
A reed's intonation and response can be affected as much by staple
design as by the treatment of the cane. Oboe and staple need to be
carefully matched; so, even if the technique of forming staples from
sheet metal has changed little, modifications to the construction of
oboes since the eighteenth century have necessitatedchanges in staple
dimensions. Brass (of thickness 0.25-0.5 mm) seems always to have
been the most commonly used material?PIt is curiousto find that one of
the reeds examined is tied onto a staple that has rusted.31
Even though the full length of the tube was sealed with thread,Ling
soldered the staplesof the reeds in the ShackletonCollection. The Bate
reeds are unsoldered. Does this indicate that they were made earlier?
As long as the tube is airtight, whether it is soldered or not has little
effect on the tone of the reed: more importantas contributivefactorsare
the thickness and temper of the brass.The harderthe brass, the more
ringing and projecting the tone. The thickness and tightness of the
binding over the tube will also play a part in affecting the quality of
tone. The most importantparametersof a staple are its end dimensions
37

and length. A slight variation in one of these will change playing

characteristics.For example, by retaining the end dimensions and
lengthening the staple, its conicity is reduced, resulting in narrower
octaves?2
Philip Bate believed that staples were not carefully tailored to
particularoboes in the eighteenth centurybecausetheir tuning '. .. was
intentionallymarginal';33but as Halfpennyhas commented, 'we look in
vain for any evidence of the precisionwhich is now regardedas essential
in the modern corked staple ... but this does not mean that the original
data were any less precise to those who understood and used them'?4
When a double staple (one brasscone placed inside another)is used, the
resistance to the air caused by the step at the top of the lower tube
introducesa furthercomplication. Compound staples, even when their
end dimensions and conicities are identical to a one-piece system,
behave quite differently. As yet their mechanics are not fully
understood. All that can be said is that they are different.35
With the cane andbindingintact,it is very difficult to measurestaples
accurately. It is possible to measure the bottom diameter and the
thicknessof the metal - althoughit is quite likely thatthe brasshasbeen
thinned at the end - but the apertureof the top of the staple is more
difficult to ascertain. This is compounded by the fact that the tube
becomes oval-shaped towards the narrower end and, in old reeds, is
often blocked with dirt. Regretfully,readingsfor this measurementare
not as accurate as we would have wished. Staple tops of reeds in the
ShackletonCollection could be comparedby eye with no. 4 which was
accuratelymeasuredwhen dismantled.As there is minimal variationin
more easily observabledetails in the Ling reeds, it can be assumedthat
the staples are virtually identical?6
THE PREPARATIONOF THE CANE
To determinehow a reed sounded,an examinationof which strataof the
cane were exposed in the gouging and scrapingprocesses needs to be
carriedout, and consideredalong with the other measurements?7Cane
is made up of concentric strataof varying densities. Below the single
layerof cells which comprisesthe barkis a seriesof tightly-packedfibres
of whitish colour. Their appearanceis easily distinguished from the
smooth, yellow complexion of the layer immediately below - the
dermis. These strataare the hardestpartsof the cane and are what give
the plant support. Closer to the centre of the cane is the parenchymain
which the fibrousvasculartissuescan easily be seen. These become less
closely spaced further away from the bark. We have divided the
38

parenchymainto dense and broad in the sketches of the reeds below,

although there is no definite division between these two areas.
The most markeddifference between the scrapesof twentieth- and
eighteenth-centuryreeds is in the portion of the cane left in the reed.
Old reeds use more of the hardercane close to the bark; in modern
reeds, this tends to be discarded.How thatis achieveddependsupon the
way the gouging of the cane from the inside is balanced with the
scraping of the outside. The blades of two reeds may be identical in
thicknessbut one may have been gouged thinnerand so hashardercane
from near the bark. Generally it can be said that it will have a brighter
tone, faster response, and its tuning will be more stable. All the reeds
examinedwere made before the invention of the gouging machine,38so
the reed makerwould probablyhave used tools similarto those pictured
in Garnier'sMithodeto eliminatethe softer layersfrom the middle of the
cane.39
In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, makers seem to have
favoured thicker gouges than those used today for either modern or
historical oboes. (Old reeds vary between 0.65 and 1.0 mm at the
thickest part of cane;Jurg Schaeftleinand the Viennese Baroque oboe
reed style favoursgouges as thin as 0.55; Dutch makersprefer 0.6-0.7).
When gouging by hand,it is easy to vary the thicknessof differentareas
of the cane. Fromthe exposed dermisand barkat the edges of the scape
on some old reeds, it seems the gouge was tapered from the back
towardsthe tip, and from the centre to the sides. This was verified in the
case with reed no. 4 when it was taken apart. 14 mm from the tip
(beyond the end of the scrape),the cane was 0.7 mm at the centre and
0.54 and 0.56 on either side o These measurements,taken3.5 mm from
the centre give a variationof approx. 0.043 mm per mm of width. By
taperingthe gouge from the backto the tip, hardercane was retainedfor
the tip41
Taperingon the inside of the reed was apparentlyeven more carefully
done than scrapingon the outside. Besides the evidence of the reeds
themselves, Brod seems to imply this when he says: 'Having succeeded
in this [gouging, shaping, tying on] it is only a question of making it
speak'.42Taperingthe gouge towardsthe tip apparentlydid not die out
entirely with the advent of the gouging machine. Vestigessurvive even
today on modern Viennese gouging machines, where the rail tips
slightlytowardsthe middle.The following passagefromA. M. R.Barret's
CompleteMethodfor theOboe,which containsthe first descriptionof the
gouging machine, can be read to imply a taperingof the gouge towards
the tip:
39

Takethe cane out of the groove and if the inside be found too thick on account
of its roughness, and the knife of the gouge have no effect on it, scrape the
middle part with ... [the scraper]until the cane is of a proper flexibility ..43
Once the cane is bound onto the staple, its original shape is lost and
there is consequently no reliable method for calculating the diameter of
the tube of cane from which a reed has been made. Nevertheless, the
age and texture of the cane can be used as clues to approximate the
original size of the tube. Being monocotyledonous, the vascular tissues
which transport nutriments up the stalk of Arundo donax are spaced
irregularly in the parenchyma, not grouped together in an outer ring, as
is the case of dicotyledons (such as hardwoods).44 Thus cane has no
growth rings, nor does the spacing of the fibres become any different as
the plant ages. Instead, they expand and become woodier. Geneially,
the grain increases in size in proportion to the diameter of the cane. For
the musician, the cane's texture, resulting from the size of the vascular
tissues, is critical. Finer-grained cane produces reeds of brilliant,
projecting quality, more stable in intonation (not always a positive
factor) which tend to last longer (because the harder cane is more
resistant to wear and tear and acidic breakdown by saliva). Tubes up to
16 mm come from growth from the first year of a plant's establishment,
or later in cases where growing conditions have been poor and the plant
has been starved of nutriments. Fred Palmer favoured cane from tubes
of diameter 24-25 mm for making copies of Ling reeds. In our
experience, this size of cane, which is used for bassoon reeds, gives
neither the tone quality nor pitch stability required for historical oboes.
Also, none of the reeds we have seen (including no. 15 which Palmer
copied) could have been made from cane of this type: they all show finegrained wood characteristic of tubes 14-18 mm.
The edges of some of the old reeds were bevelled to allow a perfect
fit when tied onto the staple,46 viz.
FIG. 1.
Ling always did this as well as thinning the ends of the cane to avoid
cracks when tying on. He also wrapped an 8 mm wide strip of
goldbeater's skin around the folded cane. This was partially covered by
the binding and guarded against leaks at this point.
40

(b)
(a)
PLATE I
reedno. 2; (b) Shackletonree

(a) Shackleton

(b)
(a)
PLATE
II
(a) Shackletonreedno. 3; (b) Shackletonreed

(b)
(a)
PLATE III
(a) Shackletonreedno. 7; (b)and(c) Shackletonr

(a)
(b)
PLATE
IV
(a) and(b) Shackletonreedno. 12; (c) Batere

TYING ON
The modern player of the Paris Conservatoiresystem oboe binds the
cane as tightly as possible to the staple, with the tops of binding and
staple exactly coinciding, and with the width of the shape such as to
make the edges of the cane come together slightly (c.0.5 mm) below the
top of the binding, and, relying on the high tension of the string,
conform exactly to the staple. These factorsproduce the best response
(i.e. freest vibration)throughoutthe range of the instrumentwhatever
the personalvariationsin the scrape.Old oboe reeds can differ from this
in two respects. Firstly, not all makers felt it necessary to stop the
binding exactly at the top of the staple. The binding of the Ling reeds
stops short of the end of the stapleby about the thicknessof one thread.
Other examples from the Shackletoncollection were overbound: even
as far as to cover the end of the scrapedportion of the cane. This extra
threadwas probablyused to control the apertureof the reed.4 Secondly,
the shaped edges of the cane were not alwaysbound to conform to the
staple. In some examples,it is clear that a gap was left between the cane
and top of the staple,48viz:
sntl~so
FIG.
2.
To what extent this space affects the performanceof the reed is difficult
to tell. From our experience, the relative responseof fundamentalsand
their harmonics seems to be affected.
The type of thread used may be an important consideration. Of
the four types of fibre in common use in eighteenth-centuryEngland,
wool can easily be ruled out as not being strong enough. Cotton
was expensive as it had to be imported, and was often difficult to
obtain.49 Silk thread was sufficiently strong but also expensive.5o
Linen, however, was relatively cheap, usually locally produced, and
very strong."5All Ling reeds in the three collections use thread of the
same thickness.The threadused for binding most of the historicalreeds
we have seen appearsto be identical, even as to thickness,to that which
was used in the binding of books from the sixteenth through to at least
the eighteenth century, and in fact is available today and used in
repairing old books by hand.52The strength and thickness of linen
41

threadis importantbecauseit showsthatreedmakersin the eighteenth

centuryhadthe optionto pull the threadas tightlyor looselyas they
wished.Thislinenis at leastasstrongas the nylonnow in use, andthus
on
the relativestrengthsof the naturalmaterialsplacedno constraints
how tightlyreedswere tied; thus,tying reedsless tightlyto produce
the gap,as picturedabove,musthavebeen deliberate.The coarseness
of the fibresof the linen threadis more evidentwhen the threadis
no longerunderpressure,as in the caseof reed no. 4. In comparison
with new linen bindingsof identicalgaugeused in the conservation
theflaxfibresof thereed
of theFolgerShakespeare
Library,
department
have
swollen
or
seem
to
with
age, become not as tightly
bindings
twisted.53
thephysicalrelationship
betweencane,thread,
Tofurtherunderstand
andstaple,considerthe simpleexperimentof a thinplasticrulerlying
on a tableso thatabouttwo-thirdsof its lengthprotrudesbeyondthe
table'sedge.Threefingersholdtherulerin placeagainstthetable.If the
fingerspressfirmly,placedso the edgeof the firstfingercoincideswith
the edge of the table,the free two-thirdsof the rulerwill, whenset in
motion,vibratefreelyandevenlyfora longtime.Pressingwitha finger
on the rulerbeyondthe edge of the table dampsthe vibrationand
shortensthe lengthof timeof the vibration.Likewiseif the fingersare
moved inward from the edge of the table, vibration becomes
progressivelymore dampedand, for want of a betterterm, flabbier.
Moreover,if the fingershold the ruleronly loosely in any position,
vibrationis damped.Pressinggraduallymore reducesthe damping
effectupto a certainfirmness,wheredampingis ata minimum.Pressing
doesnotreducedampingor promote
harderbeyondthispointoffirmness
vibration.The tightnesswithwhichmodernreedsaretiedgoesbeyond
thispointoffirmness.
Ling'sreedsalsoseemto be tightlyboundontothe
staple.The top wind of the threadon Ling'sreedscomesconsistently
belowthetopof thestapleby one or twowindsof thread.Ourattempts
to duplicatethispracticesuggestthatthisis becausethethreadis thicker
thanthatusedtoday.Thatis, maximumvibrationor minimumdamping
arenot achievedwhenthreadandstapleendsagree.Thiseffectis seen
clearlywith the rulerexperiment,wherethe thicknessof the fingers
maybe analogousto the thicknessof the thread:wherefingerandtable
endsagree,the actualpressurepointof the fingeris backslightlyfrom
the edge of the table.
Therelationof theshapeof thecaneto thesefactorsis alsoimportant
butmoredifficultto express.Attemptingto makethewidthof theshape
agreewith the top dimensionsof the stapleat thatpoint,modernreed
makerspull the sides of the cane tightlyagainsteach otherwith no
42

bunching effect of the cane. If the width of the shape at the end of the
staple is very much greaterthan the end of the staple, the threadcannot
be pulled so tight, or leakage of air will occur somewhere further up
along the exposed bladesof cane. We have found thatit is possible to tie
on, not quite as tight as usual for modern reeds, but tight enough so the
sides of the cane, slightly wider at the top of the staple than usual, will
close againsteach other, while still achievingthe above-mentionedpoint
of firmness. Reeds thus bound have a pleasant tone and very free
vibration,but responsein the second octave became less reliable as the
thread got looser. But since there are so many factors to be balanced
against each other, this conclusion must remain tentative.
The different relationshipbetween the width of the shape where it
meets the top of the staple,and stringtension, observedin the old reeds,
may have continued subtlyuntil the advent of nylon thread,only 40-50
years ago: silk thread of about the same thickness of F weight nylon
thread was used in the nineteenth century, and even when beeswaxed
heavily it cannot be pulled as tightly as either linen or nylon without
breaking.54It can be concluded from empirical evidence, that the
strengthof the threadis a decisive factor in the width of the cane at the
top of the binding.
Having noted the importanceof the width of the cane at the top of
the binding, it must be added that it is very difficult to measure
accuratelyonce the reed hasbeen tied on. Because of the pressureof the
string bowing the cane, however much that is, this is true even with a
reed like no. 4, which has been taken apart.To try for more accuracyin
obtainingthis dimension,a ribbonof papercan be bent aroundthe cane
at this point, marked either side of the cane, then straightened and
measured.This was carriedout for Bate reeds and given in the data.The
measurement,of course, correspondswith that of a piece of cane which
has been totally flattened. To obtain the measurementone would use
when shapingthe cane, the original diameter of the cane must also be
considered. A usable formula might result from taking the average
based on estimatesof cane diametersused in the eighteenth century, or
c. 15 mm.
THE SCRAPE
Significantdifferencesbetween early and modern reeds are to be found
in the way they are scraped.Modern reeds are strengthenedby a central
spine which continues to within 1-1.5 mm of the top of the reed; this is
thicker than the edges and tip, and contains hardercane. In many old
reeds the hardest cane is left at the edges and there is no distinction
between 'tip' and 'heart'(or spine):the scrapeis much more uniformup
43

to a 'bump'at the point where the scrapemeets the bark.They are closer
to modern American or Dutch than German or English scrapes.
Cross-section
of the centre
reed
blade.
a
modern
oboe
of
FIG.
3.
Cross-section
of the centre
the
blade
a
of
of Ling reed.
FIG. 4.
THE THREE ENGLISH COLLECTIONS

A. THE SHACKLETON COLLECTION (Reeds 1-13)
Dr. Nicholas Shackletonbought his collection of reeds from a dealer in
Canterburywho hadapparentlyacquiredthem togetherwith a flute and
two oboes - one by George Miller,55the other by W. Milhouse.56The
collection consists of the thirteen oboe reeds described here, two
bassoon reeds (one by J. Gerrandof London) and a single-bladed reed
and mouthpiece for oboe. The presence of the bassoonreeds suggestsa
bassoonwas at one time partof the set of instruments:provided that all
items sharedthe same provenance.All the reeds were purchasedin an
elliptical wooden box. Five of the oboe reeds (nos. 1-5)57 are stamped
T. LING
LONDON
and are remarkablyconsistentbut for no. 3 which has an
extended, V-shape scrapeatypicalof the proportionsof other reeds by

Ling. All are made on soldered brass tubes.
At this stage, it is not possible to ascertainwhich reeds were played
with which oboe. Differences in the binding where the reed was
insertedin the instrumentare minimaland therefore inconclusive:they
all appearto have been inserted 17-18 mm into the oboe. Likewise, any
identificationof the makersof the anonymousreeds is speculative. It is
neverthelesstempting to attributeno. 6 to Lingbecause of its similarity
to nos. 1-5. Also, no. 7 may be byJ. Gerrandas it uses the same finish
over the thread as a bassoon reed in this collection. Gerrandmay have
supplied it along with the bassoon reed but was unable to stamp it
because of its size.58Nos. 9 and 10 may have been modelled on the Ling
reeds: the attemptof a less skilled hand. Also, both 8 and 11 could have
originatedfrom one makeras they are both narrowerreeds bound onto
longer staples. Reeds 12 and 13 form another pair, characterizedby
wide, short blades, clumsily over-bound. Apart from nos. 9-12, all the
reeds are probably playable.
44

B. BATE COLLECTION (Reeds 14 and 15)

The two Ling reeds in the Bate Collection were bought by Reginald
Morley-Pegge in Norwich, probably with the W. Milhouse oboe no.
203. The instrumentcan be dated from the address337 Oxford Street
which appearson the bell and where Milhouse is known to have lived
from 1799 to 1828.59The pairing of these reeds with the oboe is more
certainthanwith the Shackletonspecimensbecausethey fit well into the
top of the oboe. It is possible that Ling made them to be sold with the
instrumentor, equally, that he made them sometime before his deathin
1851. The first evidence of his reed making activities dates from 1835,
but this does not prove that he did not make reeds before that date.
Thus, the association of a 'late eighteenth-century oboe' with reeds
from a maker'mainlyof the second quarterof the nineteenth century',60
may not be as incongruous as Maurice Byrne suggests.6
These reeds are very similar to the specimens of Ling's work in the
Shackleton Collection. They differ only in that their brassstaples are
unsoldered and their scrapesare slightly longer. The latter seem to be
authentic and may have been due to differences in the cane Ling was
using, the instrumentfor which he was making the reeds, or simply his
own whim.
Because the cane of reed no. 15 is longer it would appearthat either
the tip of no. 14 is missingor thatLingmade two reeds to play at slightly
different pitches. In the event of the first possibility, one would expect
the scrapeof no. 14 to be shorter- insteadit is marginallylonger, and
Ling's proportions are retained in the scrape. That the second played
flatteris supportedby the fact thatit protrudesslightly furtherout of the
oboe. But it must be emphasizedthatit is impossibleto predict the pitch
a reed will play at without being able to test it. Measurementscan tell
one only so much.
C. PITT-RIVERSMUSEUM (Reeds 16-19)
A leather-coveredpapier-miche box owned by the Pitt-RiversMuseum
holds four reeds in its compartments(cat. no. 1900.67.1. 1, 2, 3, and 4).
They were bought by Henry Balfour at the Bateman Saleroomin 1900
along with an oboe by W. Milhouse (no. 1900.67.1). It was presumably
on the basis of this informationthat Philip Bate described the reeds as
'some importantthough damagedspecimensin the Pitt-RiversMuseum
in Oxford [which] can be datedby associationat c.1770'62But from the
Street,Sohoon the bell of the oboe, we know thatit dates
stamp,100 Wardour
fromthe period1788-98.63If thesereedswere madeat the sametime as the
oboe they would be older than those in either of the other collections.
45

All the reeds are badly damaged, which accounts for the
inconsistency in our documentation. Sometimes the existing cracks
have provided the opportunityfor takingmore extensive measurements
thanusual. Reed no. 18 differs from others made by Ling becauseof the
greaterareaof the scrapedcane; there is also a largersurfaceof exposed
dermis.A 'bump'normallyfound at the transitionfrom barkto dermisis
more apparentwhere dermis meets parenchyma.The cross-section of
the scrape exposed by the split '0' side is uncharacteristic.In summary,
this is a curiously mixed bag to be associated with a single
instrument.
NOTES ON THE MEASUREMENTS

The two blades of each reed were measured using a dial gauge64
mounted with a tongue which slips inside the reed. Readingsin 2 mm
incrementswere taken from the tip along the edges, centre and midway
between the edge and centre on either side. Care was taken not to
damage the cane by forcing the tongue too far into the reed. In some
cases the reed had alreadybeen damagedin such a way that allowed the
tool to extend further into the reed.65Also, it should be noted that
because of the curvatureof the cane, this gauge becomes less accurate
furtherdown the reed. The given thicknessof gouge (i.e. the thickness
at centre of cane below the scrape, where the bark is exposed) of most
reeds must consequentlybe viewed with some caution.This will always
be somewhat bigger than reality. To give an idea of the inaccuracy
factor, measurementsof reed no. 4 taken before it was dismantledhave
been included.
The width of the cane is given in 5 mm increments,and the thickness
of the reed on the minimum axis at the top of the binding is also
included. A sketch of the cane of each reed is provided to show the
exposed strata. Our schematic representation is modelled on Paul
White's,66except for the identification of the tightly-packed white
strandsimmediately below the bark.
Bark
White
strands
Dermis
Dense and Broad

parenchyma
FIG. 5.
46

In an area as small as the scrape of an oboe reed, it is difficult to

distinguishthese areasand one often mergesinto another.The drawings
are all enlarged in the following scale (mm).
10
11111
1L
20
1
30
H 11
FIG. 6.
of severalof the reedsare included,andthe locationof

Photographs
of threemorereedsin standardreferenceworksis cited.
illustrations
The measurements
of staplesare given as follows:
(bottommax./min.diameter)x (topmax. x top min.dia.)
length
The staplelengthsof the reedsin the ShackletonandBateCollections
weremeasuredwitha no. 11metalcrochethook,withsidebulgesfiled
away.In the case of the Pitt-Riversreedsandwhere accurateresults
couldnotbe obtainedusingthismethod,thelengthfromthebaseof the
staple to the top of the binding was substituted.This data is
differentiatedfrom the other readingsby being placed in square
brackets.
The bladesof eachreedarelabelledto avoidconfusion.Forthe Ling
reeds,the sidestampedwithhisnameis termed'L',the reverse'O'. On
otherreeds,sides'A' and 'B' are identifiedby markingson the cane,
splits, differencesin the scrape,the way the bindingis tied or the
locationof the twistof the wire.
Measurements
arein millimetres,exceptthoseof thethicknessof the
bladeswhichare in hundredthsof a millimetre.
MEASUREMENTS
OF THE NINETEENREEDS
1. totallength63.5
staple (4.7/4.8)x (2.5x 1.3?)
42.65
0.25mmbrass;all Lingreedshavegreen/brown
linen(?)thread
of
thread:
42.1
length
47

thickness of cane:
18 20 20 15
25
36 34 40
52 42 50
62
78
20 20
23
28
52
21
18
24 26
28 30
33 47
50
86
{182
110
L
cane length 21.5
scrape length L-12; 0-13 scraped slightly

to the right on each blade
shape:
thickness
width
9.8
9.0
8.3
7.0
6.3
/5.4
4.5
distance
from tip
0
5
10
15
18
21.5
FIG. 7.
(all in mm)
2. See P1. I (a) and (b)

total length 61.45
staple (4.4/4.6) x (2.8 x 1.3?)
40.1
0.25 brass; smaller at top than no. 4
binding 39.15
20 20 20
2020 20
20
22 22 30
22 22 22
22 26 34
26 24 36
38 33 40
37 35 35
60 60 59
61 55 60
12180
95
95
12{80
O
L
cane 22
scrape 12
shape
FIG. 8.
10 (with corners trimmed)

5
9.3
8.4
10
15
7.5
6.4
18
22
4.4/5.5
48

3. See P1l.II (a)

total length 62.8
staple (4.65/4.8) x (2.7 x 2.8?)
43
0.25 mm brass; top tiny bit smaller than no. 4
23 20 20 20 22
23 20 19 22 22
22 20 22
23 22 26
38 24 28
32 22 24
55
52 41 44
75
70
85?
L
O
cane 20.5
scrape L-16; 0-18 more cut off corners
than others; scrape may have been
extended by someone other than Ling
?.?
?'.?
L
FIG. 9.
9.4
9.0
8.2
7.0
6.3
4.5/5.5
shape
5.0
10.0
15.0
17.5
21.5
4. Dismantled for examination

total length 63.6
staple (4.5/4.8) x (3 x 2.3?)
41.5
Strong impressions in the cane indicate that
the thread was pulled tight enough, probably
when the cane was wet, to make it conform to
the staple. Thread impressions into the cane
begin at the top of the binding. Beeswaxed
thread at the bottom of the staple is thick and
coarse underneath(of a lighter colour, as with
the Bate Ling reeds), with finer beige (natural
colour) thread wound over it, this last
probably added later.
Soldered brass c.0.25 mm thick; scored to
make cane and twine grip; 8 mm band of
gold-beater's skin wrapped around cane
before tying on; wrapping covers just the
bottom of the band; green linen(?) wrap
39.6 mm - so not to top of staple; 16 mm of
cane under binding of which 12/11.5 mm is
thinned to approx. 0.25 mm.
.~?.
.?
:';
.'
r.
...:
L
FIG. 10.
49

21 25 20
*20 24 29 26 20
21 30 30 32 20*
24 29 22
23 32 32 32 27
32 31 30
35 38 36*
31 38 40 40 40
39 51 41
48 49 50
52 58 60
68 62 65
52 64 68
70
54 70 56 (on bark)t
80
L
0
* indicates point to which bark extends on sides of reed.
cane 24
scrape 12.5
9.5
shape
5
9.2
10
8.2
15
7.0
5.8
20
24
4.5/5.1
20
22
*24
28
34
25
30
35
40
55
70
t Measurements of blades before reed was taken apart:

28 -- 23 - 27
22
25
26
35 -30
33
33 -- 32
32
41 -45
47
40 -- 38
40
-- 60 59 62
65 68 6078 80 78
L
on bark
76 63 76
0
5. total length 62.3

staple (4.65/4.7) x (2.8/2.7 x 1.9)
42.4
0.25 mm brass; top about same as no.
binding 41.2
25 22 22
22 22 22 22 22
29 22
22 24 22
30 26
29 24 27
42 29
35 30 32
34
52 40 50
48
55
62
70 (end of scrape)
0
L
**
.1
':?
?
?
.*
I? 4dII
*L,
'
22 27
25
30
41
50

FIG. 11.
cane 21.5
scrape L-12.5 (+ 0.3) 0-13
shape
9.25
9.0
8.3
7.2
6.0
4.6/5.5
5.0
5.0
5.0
3.5
3.0
6. See Pl. II (b)

total length 63
staple 5.5 x (2.5 x 2.4)
41.8
0.4 mm brass;top smaller than no. 4. Thread at bottom of staple is different
colour (and material?). Binding thread could be silk. Cane is fairly tightly
bound to almost conform to the staple, allowing a slight gap, still probably
adequate for point of firmness.Thinner thread than nos. 1-5; edges of cane
bevelled. Length of binding 42.8
24 22
30
36
45
22 25
37
40
50
21
32
36
42
58
68
A
cane 20
scrape 13
shape
9.0
8.9
7.7
6.7
6.0
4.3/5.2
5
10
15
18
20
25 23
34
40
45
22
30
32
40
57
75
B
23 27
32
37
55
??~I I I I II II I I I I I?
?
?
~_IIII II I II??
illlllll?
??
??
B
FIG. 12.
7. See P1. III (a)

total length 62.25
staple 4.9 x (2.6/2.7 x 1.8/1.9?)
30.5
0.3 mm brass;top smallerthan no. 4. Binding is tight with Ling-like thread,the
surface coated with black paint or shellac. Brown flax is wound around the
staple at the bottom. Goldbeater's skin was applied before tying on. Finish
similar to J. Gerrandbassoon reed in same collection; edges of cane bevelled.
Binding is 31 mm.
51

thinner
than B
25 22
25
29
40
60
1
22
27
23
24
46
23 20
23
23
36
J!)
50
95
{76
A
25 27
28
29
42
57
22
29
27
34
55
80
100
B
29 20
30
31
44
68
cane 26
scrape 12/11.5
11.25
shape
10.75
10.30
10.00
7.75
7.00
3.7/5.75
5
10
13
18
23
26
FIG. 13.
8. See Pls. III (b) and (c)

total length 69.2
staple 4.5 x ?
47.15
0.3 mm brass, unsoldered; top considerablysmaller than no. 4; binding 49.4;
edges of cane not bevelled; criss-crossbinding of waxed linen(?)
23 30 30 29 28
24 27 28 27 24
34 32 37
32 35 32
27 39 37 43 39
28 40 38 38 35
48 44 52
45 39 49
59 49 61
52 43 58
70 55
48 70
59
83
82
78
B
A
cane 20
scraped to binding
8.5 (with frayed edges)
shape
10
8.0
7.2
10
15
6.3
20
3.5/5.5
B
FIG.
52

14.
9. total length 69.2

staple 4.8 x 2.2
[46]
0.4 mm brassunsoldered;because of dirt in reed, hardto see size of top of staple
or to measurethe length of the staple accurately;cane tied on loose at throat.
Binding is similar in thickness to no. 8, otherwise these reeds have little in
common. Binding is quite loose, probablywell belowpoint offirmnessnecessary
to prevent dampingof the cane's vibrations.A wire, with point where ends are
twisted together at one side of the blades of cane, appearsjust below the top of
the thread; the thread above the wire may have been added later. Thinner
thread has been wrapped around the bottom of the staple. The blades of the
cane are very displaced.
- 1020 20 - 26 32 31
21 30 22
40 37 36
51 41 40
40 36 27
62 49 52
50 45 33
60 59 50
80 55 56
70
68
84
80
B
A
cane 20; blades are incomplete
scrape B-17
shape 10.5
10.0
8.9
8.2
4.0/7.3
5
10
15
20
A~
FIG. 15.
10. total length53.5

staple (4.8/5.0) x (2.7?)
34.8
0.4 mm brass;edges of cane probablynot bevelled.Thick Ling-likethread
(frombottomof stapleto top of bindingis 31mm)looselybindsthe caneto the
staple,probablybelow pointoffirmnessnecessaryto preventdamping.The
abovethe endof thebinding,andthe width
stapletop endcomesconsiderably
of the shapeseemsunusuallylargeatthispoint.Thereedwaslooselybound,so
thecanewasbowedhardlyatall.A bandof goldbeater's
skiniswrappedaround
the thread3-4 windsof threadfromthe top of the binding.
53

34 30
35
44
52
22
29
38
55
61
70
A
22 15
30
39
50
cane 27.25
scrapeA-9, B-8
11.5
shape
11.5
11.0
10.0
9.5
7.0
5.0/6.3
36 28 23 19 20
37 23 23
48 35 35
52 55
60
72
B
5
10
15
20
25
27.25
Bf
11. staple 4.6 x ?

FIG. 16.
45.15
0.3 mm brass;impossibleto tell size of top becauseof dirt; quite likely
overbound;tips are badlybroken.The thickbindingthread(length49) has
beenpulledtightly.Otherthinnerthreadappearsto havebeenaddedto thetop
4 mm later,possiblyto preventleakage.Lightercolouredflax is usedat the
bottomof the staple.
15 from
23 23 23
S20
23 27 25
binding
27 27 27
30 28 30 11 from
45 34 38 binding
32 28 34
45
30 42
A.B
65
A
B
cane A-15; B-15.3
Scrapedalmostto binding.Althoughmuchof
the tip of one blade is brokenoff, it would
appearthat the tips of the reed were clipped
A
FIG. 17.
off. Two attemptsat clipping at slightly different angles are visible, indicating
that the person who clipped it may not have been as skilled as the maker. Reeds
11-13 all seem to have been modified in this way, possibly to keep them
playing after the original tips had become frayed, or damaged. Of the three,
no. 11 seems to be the most expertly made.
7.3
5
shape
10
6.5
15
3.5/5.5
54

12. See Pls. IV (a) and (b)

total length 63.5
staple 4.3 x ?
35.8
0.25 mm brass;staple is bent/damaged; cane is also bent; splits from throat up
sides of blade A; top of stapletoo dirty to measure;loosely wrappedtwine over
ends of cane and scrape. Thread, 49 mm in length, is red underneath, overwrappedwith black. Both red and black are visible almost to the top, which is
wound in black. The red is the usual linen seen on the Ling reeds; the black is
slightly thinner. The binding seems loose. Light-coloured, possibly cotton
thread is at the bottom of the staple.
- 36 35 34 28 30 30 20 20
35 30 33
45 43 49
48 36 52
60 51 68
65 47 74
70
83
60
65
86
?~11 11111111 111?
78
?II
I
IY.U IIIIIIUt
B
A
..
??~?.
???? '5'
i?r '1
???;?
cane 14 (top missing?)
t='.
scrape to under binding
11.0
shape
A
B
10.0
5
8.8
10
FIG. 18.
14
4.5/7.0
13. total length 63
staple (4 x 2.3) x ?
[50]
0.2 mmbrass;top smallerthanno. 4; similarto no. 12butwrappingdifferent;
edgesof canebevelled.Thebindingappearsloose;it is difficultto tell whether
is achieved.Layersof differentthreadhavebeen addedat the
pointoffirmness
top of the binding.The stapleis not perfectly
round at the bottom. It is difficult to tell
whether it is soldered. A crochet hook will not
go in far enough to measurethe staple length.
- 20 20 2019 14 18 30 19 26
27 24 30
44 22 40
30 33 45
59 31 60
45 45 60
74
58
81
90
A
B
..
B
FIG. 19.
55

cane 12.5; although very short, seems to be complete

scrape to below binding
8.6
shape
7.9 5.0
3.5/6.5 12.5
14. See Pl. IV (c)

blades are shorter than no. 15
total length 63.5
staple (4.5/4.4) x (2.8 x 1.9?)
42.8
0.25 mm brass;seam on minimum axis of oval; binding 41.8; exposed length of
binding when in oboe 28.4.
13 20 20 2013 15 19 20 17
25 22 25
24 22 24
28 28 29
33 30 35
40 40 42
48 30 33
.
?~1IIIIIIIIIU
60 33 48
52 44 52
'.IIIIV
I~
50
60 55 58
*"
.*
? .
62
58
.I :
78
80
L
0
in profile, the scrapes are visibly different
cane 21.5
L
scrape 15
9.0
shape
8.7 5.0
FIG. 20.
7.9 10.0
7.3 15.0
6.2 18.5
4.5/5.0 21.5 circumference: 7.45
Instruments
and
15. A photo of this reed is reproducedin A. Baines, Woodwind
theirHistory(London, Faber and Faber, 1957, Pl. VI, reed 2).
total length 65
staple (4.5/4.4) x (2.6 x 1.9?)
43.3
0.25 mm brass;seam is off centre of minimum axis of oval; length of binding
42; exposed length of binding when in oboe 29. A few small cracksare visible
just above the binding.
56

20 20
27
34
41
48
65
20
27
24
29
39
52
70
90
L
22 20
24
28
30
42
52
end of
on bark
cane 23.3
scrape 14.5/14.8
9.0
shape
8.7
8.3
7.4
7.0
4.4/5.1
20 22
29
34
48
55
scrape
21
26
27
32
36
47
52
21 15
29
32
37
48
.0*
5.0
10.0
15.0
20.0
23.3 circumference: 7
L
FIG. 21.
16. Shown in A. Baines, Woodwind

and theirHistory,P1. VI,
Instruments
reed 1.
staple (4.4/4.2) x ?
[49]
3.0/3.5 mmbrass;the bottomof the stapleis not cut straight;top quiteoval;
probablysoldered;whitethreadcoveredwithbrownlinen(?)thread;alsofine
cotton(?)11 mm frombottom.
- 2630 25 23
33 30 27 28
-19
22 22 40
25 29 28 34
35 39 41 42
43 39 40
48 50 50 49
50 49
53*
60
60
70
60*
70
85
62*on bark 85
A
B
*thesemeasurements
possiblebecauseof crack.
cane 19
I ?
scrape15 cane is very yellow/orange
blade
shape (of
A)
7.7
7.3
5
A
B
6.8 10
6.4 15
FIG. 22.
3.4/5.4 19
57

17. Picturedas reed (a) in Pl. 12 of P. Bate's article'Oboe' in the New

Grove.67
badlybroken
staple (5/5.3)?
[46]
0.3 mmbrass;quiteovalattop;unsolderedwhitebindingandbottomwrapped
in brown(linen?)thread.
-- 28
32
40
48
55
62
82
97 (on bark)
A
A
B
cane - only 13.5-14 mm survive;
impossibleto tell how muchis missing.
FIG. 23.
scrapedto within 1-2 mm of binding
9.0
shape
8.9 3.5
8.2 8.5
3.2/6.0 13.5 (flattened?)
18. By Ling;also damaged

staple (4.6/4.4) x (2.8 x 1.9)
43
0.25 mm brass; same brown linen thread as ShackletonLing reeds;
N.B. bindingis 42 (the crackexposesend of staple).
28
30 30 34
*49 38 40 'bump'
.
59 53 50
.. I
II*
68 65 62
,*1 I
: a:
82 69 70*
80
00..
95 on bark
00
L
* barkextendsthis far on edges.
cane 15 remains
FIG. 24.
scrapeto within 1-2 mm of binding
0
:
0".*::0
.00
0
0-
0' -0.
58

shape
8.2
7.5
6.6
5.9
4.8/5.0
5
10
12
15
19. staple 5.1 x ?

43.5
is
Staple badly damaged and blocked with rust! Thread is brown and waxed,
extends 6 mm above end of staple.
Little cane remains.
-36-
41
48
60
70
(90)
A
shape
~r~l
I I I V?
r?.y I 1 1/~5
5?\1
I~r'
r.U Y?
?r~?
?~I?5?
?- ?
?.
???
at binding (70)
B
7.5 at binding.
A
FIG. 25.
APPENDIX A
AN INTERNATIONAL CHECKLIST OF LOCATIONS AND
CITATIONS OF EARLYOBOE REEDS AND ACCESSORIES
Where the present whereabouts are unknown, the entry is preceded by an
asterisk.
AUSTRIA
Graz,JoanneumAbteilung fuirKunstgewerbe:three oboe reeds a) 8 mm wide,
65 long, scrape 10, b) 8 wide, 68 long, scrape 9, c) 8 wide, 7 long, scrape 12;
from G. Stradner,Musikinstrumente
in GrazerSammlunger,
Vienna, 1986, p. 38.
Old reeds?
Linz Museum: reed associatedwith Ludowic oboe no. 118; information from
P. Hailperin; catalogue soon to be released.
Stift Kremsmunster:Cor anglais reed, information from Paul Hailperin.
Vienna, Zuleger's shop, Phorusgasse:early oboe reeds were on display at
InternationalDouble Reed Society Conference, 1985: catalogue forthcoming.
Bate relates how E. Halfpenny discovered Zuleger's cor anglais reeds worked
well in English Baroque oboes (The Oboe, p. 14).
59

CANADA
Vancouver, Guido and Mirella Gatti-Kraus: 2 oboe reeds from a larger
collection (now dispersed) of reeds in the Collezione Ethnografico-Musicale,
Firenze (cataloguepublished, 1901) put together by Alexander Krausbetween
1875-1912 (information from P. White).
ENGLAND
Cambridge, Collection of Dr. Nicholas Shackleton:thirteen oboe reeds and a
single reed and mouthpiece for oboe; once associatedwith oboes by G. Miller
and W. Milhouse, including five by T. Ling.
Chesham Bois: Edgar Hunt: reed case providing a maximumwidth of 10 mm
for oboe reeds; mid-eighteenth century? (Bate, The Oboe, p. 13).
Edgware,Boosey and Hawkes Collection: oboe reeds datingback to at least the
mid-nineteenth century.
Haddon Hall; Derbyshire: 'Item 52 - portion of a wind instrument, 17th
c.5.0 x ?
(top completely flattened and so
century': unsoldered staple of
33.9
not able to be measured),with deterioratedthick linen thread at base; no cane
or binding; probably for shawm (information from P. Hedrick).
*London, Brixton, Mr J. Payne: 'REED OF AN OBOE, "very old and
curious"', lent for special exhibition 1873; Catalogueof the SpecialExhibition
of Ancient Musical Instruments,1873, Science and Art Department of South
Kensington Museum, p. 29.
*London, Sotheby's: reeds sold with an Astor oboe at an auctionjust prior to
Dec. 1974 (information from M. Piguet).
*London,Putticks:report of sale of Grenseroboe complete with cane and reed
box in 1935 (information from W. Waterhouse).
*London, Dr W. M. Stone: six reeds which 'belonged to the oboist who
accompaniedRossini on his first visit to this country in 1823' and pictured in
'Oboe' in Grove's Dictionary, 3rd ed., 1927.
*Reeds and staples associatedwith the Galpin oboe: 'No 205: Oboe in a [sic].
An old English watchman's waight or hoboy of the latter part of the 17thcentury . . . length including crook 25.5 . . .' Catalogueof the RoyalMilitary
Exhibition(1890). The oboe is illustrated in F. W. Galpin, Old English
Instruments
of Music(1910) minusthe crook but with a reed. In the same author's
Textbook
(1937) it is pictured with a short crook
of EuropeanMusicalInstruments
and no reed (E. Halfpenny, GSJ II, Pl. III). Whether any of these reeds were
original is unknown.
Oxford, Bate Collection: two reeds by T. Ling associatedwith W. Milhouse
oboe no. 203.
Oxford, Pitt-RiversMuseum: four reeds, one by T. Ling, associatedwith oboe
by W. Milhouse, 1900.67.1.
60

Warwick,WarwickshireMuseum: Halfpenny reeds and reed tools, oldest midnineteenth century (see GSJ II, p. 25); as well as a pre-1850 reed with a staple
the same length as those in the Pitt-Rivers Collection.
FRANCE
Paris,Mus&eInstrumentaldu Conservatoire National Superieurde Musique:
tools used by Delusse and possibly Brod, plus at least one early-nineteenthcentury reed.
GERMANY (EAST)
?Leipzig, MusikhistorischenMuseumsvon Wilhelm Heyer reeds from Firenze
collection? (see entry under Vancouver).
GERMANY (WEST)
Bonn, J. Zimmermann Collection: two reeds with H. Grenser oboe no. 97
(2/10 keys); collection formerly at Duiren;measurementsfrom P. Hailperin.
Munich, National Museum: late-eighteenth-centuryreed case with four reeds
(no. 147MW); probably only two are old; measurementsfrom R. Weber.
ITALY
Naples, Conservatorio: oboe reed without staple.
Parma, Conservatorio: c. thirty oboe reeds; some measurements from
P. Grazzi.
Rome, Private Collection, formerly Hortus Musicus music store: bocal and
reed associated with Lesti oboe of c.1820.
Ditto, Museo degli StrumentiMusicali: staple with Anciuti oboe dated 1718;
reed with Biglioni oboe.
JAPAN
Musashino, Music Academy InstrumentalMuseum: six reeds associatedwith
two oboes by C. Palanca;measurementsand photographsfrom MasahiroArita.
THE NETHERLANDS
Amsterdam, Collection of Han de Vries: reeds associated with oboes by
Grenser, Triebert and Koch.
PORTUGAL
Lisbon, National Museum: eighteenth-century oboe reed and several later
(larger oboe?) ones.
SWITZERLAND
Basel, Michel Piguet collection: at least two staplesand one eighteenth-century
reed; details to be published in Baseljahrbuch.
61

Berne, Historical Museum: five reeds in reed case once containing six reeds
associated with Fornari oboe, 1814 - three badly damaged, one is as new
(information from P. van der Poel); staples with Bihner and Keller oboe
no. 5448; measurementsby M. Kirkpatrick.
?Binningen, Mr Ernst Buser-Fruh owns early oboe reeds?
Lucerne,TribschenWagnerMuseum: two reeds with Schlegel oboes nos. 125,
126; possibly a misassociation:oboe da caccia reeds?; reed with English Horn
by C. Lesti of Ancona, no. 123; information from S. King.
USA
Cincinnati OH, Art Museum: reed found with Denner oboe d'amore; thought
to be eighteenth century, but not to belong to the d'amore; P. Hailperin
'3 Oboes d'amore from the time of Bach', GSJ XXVIII, p. 36 andXXX, p. 153.
Washington DC, US National Museum: brass tube with Grassi oboe; from
Museum handbook andJ. Grush, 'A Guide to the study of the ClassicalOboe',
DMA thesis, Boston University, 1972, p. 121.
APPENDIX B
MEASUREMENTS OF OTHER OLD OBOE REEDS
French
Garnier'sreed, to play on a Delusse oboe; measurementsfrom scale drawings
in Mithode (c.1800). The problem of the scaling of Garnier's drawings is
discussedin P. Hedrick'sedition of the Mithode(op. cit.). His measurementsare
given in parentheses.
6.2 x 3.6
41.6
staple5 x 3.4
staple 43
flat brass 16 x 11.14

flat bras
4.
40.7
cane 23 (22.6)
scrape not shown
8.0
tip
shape
8.5 (8:32) at widest
4.0
binding
(6.7 before tying)
Cane appears to be tied loosely onto
FIG. 26.
staple although Garniersays 'fasten the
two blades tightly'.
Henri Brod's reeds were fashioned to play his own instrumentsmodelled on
oboes by Delusse, with additionalkeys. Measurementsfrom his MWthode
pourle
Hautbois(c.1823).
staple 5 x (2 x 3)
46
cane shape 7 mm at widest.
62

Italian
Six reedswithPalanca(fl.1719-83)oboe in MusashinoMuseum,Japan.Only
samplesgiven here.
staples 4.6/5.0 x (1.4 x 3.1)
[50.6]
C
1l
(4.9/5.0) x (1.4 x 3.1)
[52.8]
othersof similarend dimensionswith
bindinglengths49.1, 45.4, 47.2
top measurements
only by eye.
a 14.3
'a
eo'
a' 15.7
b 4.8/4.9
c 7.4, 7.7
d 5.25, 5.5, 5.05
b
e (minimumaxis at throat)
ed
3.6, 3.35, 3.25
FIG.
27.
Reed with Fornari oboe, Berne Historical Museum, dated 1814. Detailed
measurementsby M. Kirkpatrick.
staple 4.9 x (2.9 x 1.75)
42.4
0.4 mm brass;+ 1 mm longer
thanbinding;bindingis green
(cotton?) above, linen (?)
below; good fit in oboe; reed
extends 52.8 mm.
FVIT
(11)
thickness of blades at tip

+ 0.22
cane 23.8
scrape 13.5
shape 8.6
8.25 13.5
6.0 20.0
5.1 23.8
FIG. 28.
63

German
Damaged reed associated with an oboe by
J. G. Ludovic (end 18th century?) in Linz
Museum; although damaged, P. Hailperin
was able to play it.
7
f
0.4 mm brass staple
19
13.5
5.1
4.3 x 4.7
3.6 x 4.2
3.2(?) x 3.4
?
0.7
mm
gouge
much wood scraped from the middle; i.e.
probably similar to Ling scrape.
0
10
20
30
5 --w-
42
FIG.
29.
An Anonymous (18th-century?)oboe reed in M. Piguet's collection, Basel.
staple 4.6 x (3.1 x 2.2)

44.5
*0
95 --
a 0.3
23-7
b 0.6
c 1.0
3.5
d 0.6
c..
co
d
a
4.6
FIG. 30.
FIG. 31.
64

5-
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Manypeopleneedto be thankedfor theirhelpin collatingthisinformation

particularlythe curatorsof the Oxford Collections,JeremyMontaguand
HelkneLa Rue, andNicholasShackleton;BruceHayneswho instigatedthis
researchproject,RonaldBurgesswho drewthe sketches,andnumerousothers
fromaroundthe worldwho have generouslyofferedinformation.
Sydney,1988.
NOTES
1For accountsof modernmethodsof Baroqueoboe reed makingsee:
H. vasDias, 'MakingReedsfor the BaroqueOboe',Journal
of theInternational
IX (1981),p. 48, andB. Haynes,'Making
DoubleReedSociety
(hereafterjIDRS),
BaroqueOboe Reeds',EarlyMusic(hereafterEM),IV (1976),pp. 31 and173.
an 18thCenturyOboe Reed',GSJ,XXXV
2 In his article'Reconstructing
Frederic
R.
Palmerdescribedreedno. 15. He provides
100-111,
(1982),pp.
measurements
of thisreed,whichhe believessuitsmany18th-century
oboes.
His paperhasa numberof shortcomings.
Firstly,as will be provenlater,the
reed dates from 1799 at the earliest, so using it to play 18th-century
instruments
is anachronistic.
While it is truethatthisreedis amongsta small
numberwhichare'theclosestlinkto reedsthatwereusedduringthe firsthalf
of the 18th century'(Palmer,p. 100) in termsof originalspecimens,the
similarities
betweenearly18th-century
oboesandthe reedstheyrequirewith
thosefromthe end of the centuryin no way outweighsthe differences.Both
'Baroque'oboes (e.g. Denner, Stanesby,Schlegel, Richters,Rottenburgh
models) and 'Classical'instruments(e.g. Milhouse, Collier, Cahusacin
Delusse,Anciution the Continent)need reedswhich
England;Grundmann,
notes.
respondeasilyto overblowthe octavesandproducethe cross-fingered
The shorterand narrowerboresin lateroboes, which affectthe balanceof
registersandintonation,placedifferentdemandson reeds.As his conclusion,
Palmertabulatesthe pitchesof nine oboes from the Bate Collectionwhen
playedwithhis copyof the Lingreed.In severalcases,theseresultsgo against
the opinionsof makersand playerswho have had considerableexperience
withoriginalsandcopiesof the samemodels.Togive two examples:Schlegel
oboesareknownto playbestlowerthanA= 415,notnear435;similarlyoboes
by T. Stanesby
Jr aregenerallyplayedat 415 or slightlylower,not 421. Other
with
Palmer'smethodologyare pointed out later in this paper.
problems
B. Haynes 'Double Reeds, 1660-1830: A Survey of survivingwritten
evidence'(JIDRS,XII (1984),p. 14) is the mostcompletedocumentation
of
the writtensources,and N. Post's The Seventeenth-Century
Oboe Reed'
(GSJ, XXXV, and repr. in JIDRS, XIII (1985), p. 57) discussesearly
iconographicsourcesin detail.
3 This has been takenas the cut off point becauseit was then that reeds
similarto those still in use were developed.'Since 1830 the fundamental
concept of tone productionbecomes almost identicalto our own day.'
(L.GoossensandE. Roxburgh,Oboe,YehudiMenuhinMusicGuide,London,
65

1977, p. 18.) The invention of the gouging machine (c.1845) also revolutionized
the technique of reedmaking.
4 H.
Lange and B. Haynes, 'The Importance of Original Double Reeds
Today', GSJ, XXX (1977), pp. 145-51; B. Haynes, 'Early Double Reeds:
Prospectusfor a Survey of the HistoricalEvidence',JIDRS, IX (1981), pp. 4347; Maurice Byrne's 'Reed Makers', GSJ, XXXVII (1984), pp. 99-101, and
G. Burgess, ' "A Profile of Mr Ling" or English oboe Reeds around 1800',
of HistoricalInstruments
(hereafterFoMRHI),
Fellowshipof MakersandResearchers
XLVII (1987), Comm. 804, p. 68.
1
Despite this, Michel Piguet has one old reed which he says still plays
excellently.
6 See Paul
J. White, 'Early Bassoon Reeds: A Survey of Some Important
Examples',Journalof theAmericanMusicalInstrument
Society(hereafterJAMIS),
X (1984), pp. 69-96.
7 Arthur H. Benade, Fundamentals MusicalAcoustics,Oxford University
of
Press, 1976, p. 469.
Makers,6th ed.
LyndesayLangwill in An Indexof MusicalWind-Instrument
printed by the author, Edinburgh, 1980, p. 107, incorrectly gives 1794-1835.
These dates derive from records relating to other members of the family who
have since been distinguished from the reed maker.
9 See E. M. Ennulat,'William Ling, a rediscoveredEnglishMozart?',Journal
Research,V, pp. 35-49 for most information on this family.
of Musicological
Ibid.
1o
1 No. 4 (1794) 'A Third Concerto for the Oboe, Composed by Wm Ling
and performed by him . . .'; and no. 6 (1799) '... and performed by the
author.. .'. Quoted, Ennulat, op. cit., p. 36.
12 Passim. Harmonicon,
I (1823) - XI (1833). Entries in Langwill's, Index
presumably drew on this source.
13 An anonymous review in Harmonicon,
I (1823), p. 101. See A. Carse, The
to
Berlioz
...
Beethoven
Orchestra
from
(Cambridge, 1948), p. 174.
14 Several musical dictionariesinclude details on W.
Ling. Among them are
A Dictionaryof Musiciansfrom the EarliestTimes,ed. J. S. Sainsbury,London,
desMusiciens,
Universelle
1825, repr. New York,Da Capo, 1966; Fetis,Biographie
1901.
and
Eitner's
Quellen-Lexicon,
(Both the
Biographisch-Bibliographisches
1840):
lattertwo have almost direct paraphrasesof Sainsbury.)TheCatalogueof Printed
Musicin the BritishLibraryto 1980 (K. G. Saur, 1984), vol. 35 lists some twelve
printed works by Ling in addition to the concerti cited above. Several of these
were reviewed in The Harmonicon.Langwill falsely assumed that the William
Ling of the Ancient Concerts, 1823, was the father of Thomas (Index,
p. 107).
IV (1826), p. 217.
15Harmonicoin,
'6 London, 1823, pp. 14-15.
17
Langwill's Indexis the only source which gives the number as 35.
IX Langwill, Index,p. 107. Two of his bassoon reeds found in the Collection
of Henk de Wit, Amsterdam, are described by Paul White (JAMIS, X,
p.79).
66

19See
particularly
Haynes,JIDRS,XII, andreferencesto salesof reedsto
in H. C. Robbins-Landon,
the oboists employedat Eszterhaiza,
Haydnat
andWorks,
London,Thames
1766-1790,vol. 2 of Haydn:Chronicle
Eszterhdza,
and Hudson,1976.
20 See A. Bernardini,
'Oboe Playingin Italyfrom the Originsto 1800',
unpub.diss., 1985.
21 Gasault's
drawingis reproducedin Haynes,JIDRS, XII, p. 25; Sante
Aguilar'sportraitin Tibia,III (1980) and in Bernardini,'Oboe Playingin
Italy'.
22 'Crone,laterSattler,earlyGrenser?'
Checklist
(Haynes,'A Preliminary
of iconography
for oboe-typeinstruments,
reeds,andplayers,c.1630- c.1830',
FoMRHI,XLV(1986),Comm.764, p. 65.)
23 For
of this,see 'Oboe' in TheNew Grove(1980and 1984);
reproduction
and Haynes,JIDRS, XII, p. 20.
24 H. Berlioz, Traite
et d'Orchestration,
Paris[1843], repr.
d'Instrumentation
Gregg, 1970,p. 104.
25
and
Philip Bate, The Oboe:An Outlineof its History,Development
2nd ed., New York,PhilosophicalLibrary,1962,p. 14.
Construction,
26 The followingcommentis
typicalof the Englishtaste:'Mr Vogt.
himself,in spiteof histone,which,thoughthe trueone
performedcharmingly
of the oboe, is not pleasingto Englishears:we havebeen accustomedto a
fuller, less reedy sound.'(Anon.review of his benefit, 31 May, 1828, The
VI (1828),p. 168.)
Harmonicon,
27 Apartfrom Cooke, all these
playerswere exponentsof the two-keyed
Classicaloboe. Vogtincorporated
a low b andf' key on whatwas basically
a two-keyedClassicaloboe; accordingto IUonGoossens(L. Goossens,and
E. Roxburgh,Oboe,London,1977, p. 22), Cooke playeda simplesystem
Englishoboe with abouteight or nine keys throughouthis life.
2sLondon,Macmillan,1877-1889,repr.1900.Centronihadgiventhisreed
to Mr Waddell,formerlyof the FirstLife Guards.
29 This
startlingresultmaybe explainedin a forthcomingpaperby Alfredo
Bernardinion the subjectof Centronito be printedin Il FlautoDolce,
1988.
30 See Goossensand
Roxburgh,Oboe,p. 35.
31 Reed no. 19.
32
Formoredetailssee B. Haynes,EM, IV,pp. 31 and173.Thisfactshould
be kept in mindwhen consideringPalmer'srecommendation
for a modified
copy' of reed no. 15 whichuses a stapleof differentconicity.
33Bate, TheOboe,p. 19.
34 FromE. Halfpenny,'English2- and 3-keyed Oboes', GSJ, II (1949),
p. 25.
of Lingstaplesin two piecesshouldbe viewed
'reconstructions'
35 Palmer's
with this in mind.
36 See sectionon 'TyingOn'.
- Sourceof
is derivedfromR. E. Perdue,'Arundo-donax
37 Thissummary
Musical Reeds and IndustrialCellulose', EconomicBotany,XII (1958),
67

pp. 368-404; J. M. Heinrich, 'Le Problkme de l'Anche: Aspect Botanique et

Musicale,Universit6 de Paris,
Microstructural',Bulletindu Grouped'Acoustique
VI, 71/2 (1974); P. White, JAMIS, X, pp. 69-96.
W. Waterhouse, c.1845 (White, JAMIS, X, p. 74).
38 According to
39J. F. Garnier,Mithoderaisonnie
pourle hautbois,Paris[c.1800], facsimileand
P.
Music
trans.
Hedrick,
Facsimiles, Columbus, Ohio, 1987;
Early
Eng.
illustrationreproducedin T. E. Warner, 'Two Late 18th-Century Instructions
for Making Double Reeds', GSJ, XV (1962), p. 25; B. Haynes,JIDRS, XII,
p. 24; and P. Bate, 'Oboe' in New Grove(1980 and 1984).
40 On blade
opposite that with Ling's stamp.
41 A
technique ignored by Fred Palmer.
42 Peter Hedrick, 'Henri Brod on the
Making of Oboe Reeds',JIDRS, VI
an
The
article
contains
10.
English translationof Brod's Mithode
(1978), p.
(c.1826) dealing with reed making. Probablya little later than the Ling reeds, it
represents the most detailed surviving description of hand gouging and
shaping.
43 A. M. R. Barret, CompleteMethodfor the Oboe, 2nd ed., c.1862, repr.
London, Boosey and Hawkes [n.d.], p. 12.
44 Note that D. Plesnicaris mistaken when he talks of 'bark, cambium and
pulp' in cane, in his paper 'All About VB' (published by the author,
Albuquerque, 1984).
107.
45 Palmer, GSJ, XXXV, p.
46 This technique is seen in bassoon reeds of this time. (See White,JAMIS,
X, pp. 73-4.)
47See reeds 12 and 13.
48 See
Haynes, EM, IV, pp. 31f and 173f. This practice is still followed by
makers of Northumbrian pipes as evidenced by specimens in the Pitt-Rivers
Museum.
49 Daniel Defoe, A Plan of The EnglishCommerce
(London, 1728), p. 174:
in
the
East
Indies are ... so great,
Silk
Manufacturers
and
the
Calico
the
'...
that spreadinginto Europe, they become a general Grievance, and are already
prohibited from being imported in several Kingdoms and countries in
Europe .'.
50oT. S. Willan, An Eighteenth-CenturyShopkeeper:AbrahamDent of
(ManchesterUniversity Press, 1970), p. 14. Based on records
Kirkby-Stephen
datingfrom May, 1762 to October, 1765, Dent sold a little silk [thread]at 2s. to
2s. 6d. the ounce,and much flax for spinning at 8d. to is. 4d. per pound.
st George E. Linton, NaturalandMan-madeTextileFibers(Metuchen, New
Jersey, 1956), p. 365. Tensile strength in lbs/sq inch of naturalfibres is given
thus: flax - 6.6 dry; silk - 5.6 wet; cotton - 2.0 dry. Syntheticfibres, including
variouspolamides (nylons) are assignedvariousstrengths,with few as strong as
flax. Defoe (A Plan, p. 173) mentions the general availabilityof locally grown
flax throughout Europe.
52 This informationis from a conversationwith Frank
Mowerey, head of the
Conservation Department of the Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington,
D.C. The weight most commonly used and seemingly like what Ling used is
68

no. 18, 3 cord (plies), now produced by Barbour's of Lisburn, Northern

Ireland.
53See n. 49.
54 See n. 48.
55Known
mainly as a clarinet maker, active from 1777 to 1810 (Langwill,
Index);sold to Nora Post who subsequently re-sold it.
56 Post-1800. Now owned
by Clare Shanks.
57
Not four as recorded by Byrne, GSJ, XXXVI, p. 100.
The markingon this reed is more likely to be G. GERRARD/LONDON
58
than GEBRAND as reported in Byrne, GSJ, XXXVII, p. 99.
59See L.
Langwill, Index.
60 See Maurice
Byrne, 'Thomas Ling, 1787-1851, reed maker', FoMRHI,
XLIX (1987), Comm. 826, p. 22. Byrne agrees that it may be more accurateto
say active in the first and second quartersof the 19th century.
61
GSJ, XXXVII, p. 100.
62 Bate, The Oboe, p. 11.
63 See Langwill, Index.
64
Accuracy c.0.01 mm, but because of the softness of cane this tolerance
must be increased.
65
E.g. reed no. 16.
66
See White, JAMIS, X, p. 82.

Bate incorrectly assigns this reed to the Bate Collection.
67
69


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for original oboe reeds is fraught with confusion, red

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breath-pressureinto account, explaining why different players may

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account of the BirminghamMusical Festival of October 1826 in the

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wider bores of early eighteenth-century oboes, developed into the

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to be narrower,the opposite was the case. The Frenchhad developed a

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and length. A slight variation in one of these will change playing

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parenchymainto dense and broad in the sketches of the reeds below,

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reedno. 2; (b) Shackletonree

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(a) Shackletonreedno. 3; (b) Shackletonreed

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(a) Shackletonreedno. 7; (b)and(c) Shackletonr

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(a) and(b) Shackletonreedno. 12; (c) Batere

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threadis importantbecauseit showsthatreedmakersin the eighteenth

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THE THREE ENGLISH COLLECTIONS

and are remarkablyconsistentbut for no. 3 which has an

extended, V-shape scrapeatypicalof the proportionsof other reeds by

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B. BATE COLLECTION (Reeds 14 and 15)

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NOTES ON THE MEASUREMENTS

Dense and Broad

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In an area as small as the scrape of an oboe reed, it is difficult to

of severalof the reedsare included,andthe locationof

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scrape length L-12; 0-13 scraped slightly

2. See P1. I (a) and (b)

10 (with corners trimmed)

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3. See P1l.II (a)

4. Dismantled for examination

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t Measurements of blades before reed was taken apart:

5. total length 62.3

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6. See Pl. II (b)

7. See P1. III (a)

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8. See Pls. III (b) and (c)

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9. total length 69.2

10. total length53.5

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11. staple 4.6 x ?

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